Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi, one of the Judicial Members of the Lokpal, breathed his last on May 2 after battling with COVID-19 at the age of 62. He was the first patient to have been shifted to the AIIMS facility.
On April 5, Justice Tripathi, former Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court, was reported to be in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi (born on November 12, 1957), was elevated as an Additional Judge of Patna High Court on 9th October 2006 and took oath as a Permanent Judge of the High Court on 21st November 2007.
He graduated in Economics (Hons.) from the reputed Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and studied law at Campus Law Centre, Delhi University. He enrolled at Patna High Court in the year 1981 and practiced primarily in the areas of Service law, Constitutional law, Taxation, Excise and other commercial litigations.
Prior to his elevation Justice Tripathi had held the office of Standing Counsel for the Union of India and the Income Tax Department. He appeared as a special counsel for the CBI and the Auditor and Comptroller General of India. He also represented the Customs and Excise Department, Enforcement Directorate, R.P.F.C and many Public Sector Undertakings including BSNL, B.P.C.L, I.O.C, H.P.C.L, I.W.A.I. etc., in their important and contentious cases.
He has appeared in many important cases of the day which made headlines at the state and national level. Justice Tripathi served as an Additional Advocate General for the State of Bihar and represented the High Court in its litigations.
He was Joint Secretary of Delhi Law Faculty Students’ Union in the year 1978-1979 and was Vice President of the Patna High Court Bar Association in the year 1998.
He has been actively involved in bringing quality legal education to state of Bihar. He is keenly involved in the setting up of the Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) at Patna and is presently a member of the General and Academic Council of the University.
Justice Tripathi was one one of the four judicial members of the anti-corruption ombudsman, which is headed by Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose. On March 23, 2019, he was appointed as a judicial member of the Lokpal.
